Wanderlust Wednesday

wan·der·lust

/ˈwändərˌləst/

Noun A strong desire to travel: "a man consumed by wanderlust"

With all of the traveling that I do (I actually sit in an airport as I type this up), for business and for personal trips wedding shenanigans for my friends, I thought that I would start writing a weekly post on some of the places that I've been to and tips on where to stay, what to eat, what to do etc etc. It's also a selfish way for me to have a reference point for my next trip back.

LOUISVILLE, KY
Lonely Planet voted Louisville as the #1 US destination for 2013. Who would've thunk?

STAY: Now this installment may be considered cheating because I actually didn't stay at this hotel in Louisville, KY but I did have dinner in the restaurant so I will go ahead and consider myself somewhat of a paying customer. 21c Museum Hotel was voted by Condé Nast Traveler magazine readers as among the TOP TEN HOTELS in the World in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards. Now if I WERE to stay in a hotel while I am in town on business in the future I would choose 21c for it's modern decor, the actual museum located in the lobby and the proximity to great restaurants and things to do ie. the East Market District aka "New Lousville" aka "Nulu". The Soho of Louisville so to speak. I said it. 

TO DO: Bourbon Trail it, mingle with celebrities at the Kentucky Derby (early May), Antique shopping, river boating on the Belle of Louisville, Louisville Slugger museum

TO EAT: Bon Appetit magazine called Louisville one of the top 5 "Foodiest" cities in America and with that this list is actually far longer than I originally anticipated it to be. Proof on Main, Milkwood, Harvest, Toast on Market, Lilly's, Basa Modern Vietnamese, Sari Sari, Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe, Garage Bar, La Coop Bistro a Vins, Decca, Rye

GETTING THERE: According to farecompare United has the most nonstop flights between Chicago, IL and Louisville, KY and the average cost is just shy of $200

Happy travels Chicago lovers!

Outside the 21c Museum Hotel, Main St Louisville

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

RPM

Finally got the chance to stop into RPM for a quick meal with a coworker this past week. It was perfect timing for a reservation as we were able to sneak in a last minute mid-week reservation on Open Table. Instant. Gratification. 

Trying to get a reservation at a decent hour on the weekend? <-----forget it.  

RPM (or Giuliana Rancic of the E! network's restaurant) opened in February of 2012 and since then has racked up rave reviews and as I mentioned, hard to get resos. Part of the 80+ restaurant network of  the Lettuce Entertain You group, RPM supposedly features Giuliana's mama's recipes, but hey they were fresh, delicious and authentic tasting so I have no qualms as to where the recipes came from. If you're looking for a modern, but fancy ambiance, fresh dishes, and good lookin' wait staff, RPM is the spot for you. 

PS. Giuliana is slated to open RPM Steak come October 1st, so more to come from this lady!

Roasted Beets, gorgonzola, pistachio, orange

Wood Oven Cremini Mushroom with Truffle & Fontina Fonduta Pizzette

Ricotta Ravioli with Asparagus, Pistachio & Lemon. Short Rib Parppardelle Bolognese, Pecorino, Rosemary

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Warehouse Sale

A fun little Warehouse sale in the West Loop that I went to last week via a Daily Candy alert. I really can't say no to a good sale! Sofia, Luxury Garage Sale, Vosges Haut-Chocolat & a few other Chicago shopping gems had items on sale for 60-90% off! I walked away with a few items from Sofia including a pretty silk red blouse and roll-up flats. 

Mission. Accomplished.

What would I do without my daily Chicago email alerts? It's getting a little out of control but I don't recall planning my social life without them:

Daily Candy, Racked Chicago, Refinery29, Zagat, Urban Daddy, Tasting Table, Eater Chicago, Rundown on Chicago, Curbed Chicago, Gilt City

 

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Pumpkin

I knew it. I KNEW IT!!! I knew that Kabocha ,the city's first Japanese Brasserie, was going to be my new favorite restaurant opening this Spring. I have been tracking the restaurant for quite some time as: 1. Being Japanese, I am always looking for the next best thing and 2. Michelin-starred chef Shin Thompson's former Bonsoiree (RIP) housed one of the best tasting menus in the city.

I giddily made my reservation for Saturday as Sean and I had a few things to celebrate and despite Kabocha only being open for a little over a month, the only two slots open for two diners were at 545pm and 930pm.  We chose 545pm and the restaurant filled up extremely quickly after we sat down. I am always a little weary of non-traditional Japanese restaurants as more American-ized Fusion-ized restaurants tend to stray away from Japanese concepts of aesthetics, less is better, and attention to detail. They're just not any good.

Kabocha, however did NOT disappoint. The design of the space is upscale, but not uptight, the portions are appropriately sized (I read one review about the Lamb dish being too small, but common people-set your expectations), the service is great and the food. Oh the food! The menu is split up into four sections; raw, small, medium and large. We ordered two raw, one medium and one large each. My favorite dish was the whole fried fish, which had an almost vinegar-y tang-y taste to the sauce and was fried just right. I'm embarrassed to say that I wasn't even close to finishing it as the whole dish was bigger than my head. Next time we'll share. There's also a Kaiseki option, which essentially means tasting menu in Japanese. $110 is not cheap, by any means, but compare that with some other tasting menus in the city and you'll have some cash left in the wallet.

There were also micro-greens growing under lights in the kitchen, which really takes the farm/garden to table concept to the next level. If you take a look at the photos below you'll see some of these micro-green babies sprinkled throughout as well. I cannot wait to take some friends back!

BON APPETIT!!

Pumpkin, or Kabocha in Japanese, shaped lighting fixtures

Chicago city art behind the bar

Moscow Mandarin Mule. Mandarin Blossom Vodka

A dozen market oysters with Hot Granita and Coconut Lychee Mignonette

Rabbit and Thai basil dumplings

Wagyu Beef Tartare with Umami Paste, Quail Egg and Chili-Sesame wontons

Fried Whole fish with Red Rice Ale Tempura and Fermented Black Bean Chili Sauce. Fish is flown in daily

Kombu Cured Lamb Loin, Black Garlic Lamb Sausage, Parsnip and Cherry Jus

Micro-greens growing under lights in the kitchen

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Cobbler

I understand that blogging about a shoe repair shop is far from a sexy topic, but I was very pleased to come across a great one in the city. I am now fully "staffed", so to say, with my local service peeps from shoe repair, alterations, salon, florist dentist, primary care doctor etc. At this point I guess you could say I'm officially a resident =)

I found that after trolling around the city in my Louboutins that I was in need of resoling them, for longevity and non-slip purposes. I've been bringing in regular leather shoes to get resoled and fixed to Your Shoe Repair in Wicker Park since I moved to the city, but making sure they were able to handle a pair of my babies made me just a tid nervous. I called ahead of time to get the deets and they told me that they would use Vibram rubber non-skid half soles, would paint the sides of the 1mm soles black to match the shoe, and would cost $25. Vibram is an Italian based company that's been around forever, so I made the decision to move forward and was happy with my choice. There was a little black residue left over on the sole from the paint (which you can see in the pic below), but it rubbed out fairly easily, so I would definitely recommend this shop and bring back another pair of my babies.

Mother's Day

After calling my own lovely mama on Mother's Day, I spent the day with Sean’s mother for some Dose Market and dinner time fun. The Dose market is a year-round food, fashion and tsoktske-filled good time at the River East Art Center, just east of Navy Pier. I went once last year, but this time around the vendors were all new, which made for a completely different experience. And the people are always good looking at these things, so that makes it real easy to enjoy yourself. I preordered our tickets for only $8 a pop and that even came with a free pickle back shot. Well you had your choice of bottled water or whiskey.  So you know.

As for dinner, this was my first time at Green Zebra, James Beard winner Shawn McClain’s vegetarian eatery in West Town. Yeah I said it, vegetarian. The word makes me shutter, but after my first bite I stopped caring that meat wasn’t incorporated in the meal.  Although I did order the Carbonara that came with Shiitake “bacon”.  Satisfied with the substitution. We also ordered an incredibly rich Hen of The Woods Mushroom Pâté with Vidalia onion marmalade, Grilled Werp Farm Baby Lettuce with a ‘perfect’ farm egg, crispy potato tot, Roasted Sweet Potato Crepes with Saigon cinnamon, seared Halloumi, parsley and brown butter and some Foraged Maitake Mushrooms, housemade kimchi .  No rabbit food here!

 XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Warby Parker

I've been out of town all week for work and was so happy to come home to this package! 

New spectacles! 

Warby Parker is my new favorite company. Started by a few smarty pants Wharton graduates, Warby Parker delivers a great product at a low price and even has a "buy a pair, give a pair" program. For every pair of Warby Parker glasses that are purchased, a pair is distributed to someone in need. They skip over the middlemen that typically make glasses so expensive and are able to pass on the savings to their customers. The glasses even are made from an Italian supplier and made in the Chinese factories where most other glasses are made. I do have to say that there isn't much anti-glare in the lenses, but in my 20 years of wearing glasses, I would say that's par for the course.

And $95!! Ok, I actually bought mine for $120, because I had to get special super-blind person lenses, but was able to redeem a $5 coupon that I got from Apartment Number 9, where I was able to physically try on all the styles in one of ten showrooms across the country. 

Another reason to love the Chicago shopping experience. Check out the screen shots from their website for a little more info about the company.

 XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO